Hey guys, so Chris & Becca have been absent from the past
couple days’ happenings so let us catch you up.
Since Wednesday was a HUGE holiday in this city (like as big as Christmas…their
472nd anniversary) no patients would come so we couldn’t have the clinic. So some of us went up to a town 5 hours away
to hand out some much-awaited wheelchairs.
So Tuesday afternoon, Chris, me, Sam, 2 students from Arcadia, Jodee,
and another PT hopped on a bathroom-less bus for a 5 hour trek to Juliaca. The trip was full of mountains, valleys, volcanoes,
llamas, alpacas, and never-ending gorgeous scenery. The amazing thing about God’s creation is
that every country is sooo different and even parts of countries are so
different! We serve such a creative
God! But we also serve an adventurous
one… No sooner had we arrived in Juliaca
Tuesday night and jumped in our taxis that we were all pulled over for
suspected drug trafficking, haha.
Apparently the Americans and British are known in the area for
transporting drugs in from the nearby Bolivian jungle, haha. All 6 girls crammed into 1 little room on
2-in thick mattresses on the floor and the boys stayed a block down the
street. The weather was round about 25
degrees Fahrenheit overnight in rooms without heat but we bundled up good and
were blessed with a space heater in the 2.5 mile-high city. Wednesday the clinic was held in the
courtyard of a small church complex.
Chris & I teamed up to help fit/fix wheelchairs and within 5 minutes
looked like grease-monkeys. Through good
ole school of hard knocks style we became wheelchair fixer experts and somehow
got all the hardest wheelchairs to finagle.
One even took 2.5 hours and a band-saw.
Now, fitting wheelchairs means matching up 1 of 26 wheelchairs to 25
patients…none of which were in perfect condition. It meant switching all sorts of pieces and
madly desiring washers because it would have made sooo many more fixes that
much easier. But we made do with
electrical tape, duct tape, and hunks of wood, metal, and brick we found lying
around. 
We must pause and give creativity credit where it is most
certainly due. Some of the wheelchairs
these patients came in were just stunning.
Everything from lawn chairs as seats to a pair of jeans hand sewn onto
the metal bars as a seat to one that turned the frame of a wheelchair into a
tricycle with rearview mirrors, tail-lights, a basket, and a hand crank using
bicycle gears. The man obviously knew what he was doing when he fixed this
contraption haha. We also had some free time during it all to hang out and
chill with the local boys and girls of the blind school that surrounded us with
curiosity and love. Becca, Sam, the 2 students (Jess and Adrienne) from
Arcardia, and me (CB) handed out funny shaped bracelets and playdoh, which the
kids absolutely loved! Sam made some dogs out of the playdoh upon request, and
I made what looked like a pretty normal human being action figure besides the
hefty lookin right leg. Kelly, one of the legit physical therapists with us on
this sweet trip was a hit with the kids because she knows quite a bit of sign
language and could communicate with the tikes. It was amazing to see how she
did so well with them, and a blessing that we could brighten their day a little
bit just by being silly and sharing some laughs. Sam and I most importantly
taught the little pods how to chest bump in addition to the world renowned fist
bump, mixing in variations of
explosions, snakes, sharks, turkeys, and jellyfish gotta keep it real.
We were so blessed by the pure joy represented in their
smiles as each received wheelchairs that, although many far from perfect, were
far better than what they came with. The
wonderful thing about smiles is that they cross every language barrier!
After everyone got their respective wheelchairs, we went out
exploring Juliaca. First we went up to
the “White Christ” that overlooks the entire city. It is high up and our poor
unconditioned-to-the-altitude lungs had a tad of trouble, but we made it to the
top and had a blast taking pictures of the city at sunset and of course an
opportune jumping picture…or 17. Even
the pastor’s dog GiGi was jumping with us, haha. Luis and Ruben were our hosts
for the 2 day event and wow they were probably the nicest people we’ve ever
met. They were so genuine and kind, making us breakfast, lunch, and taking us
out on the town to tour the city of Juliaca, which is doggone freezing! We then went and explored the Plaza de Armas
and saw the church and got some of the best popcorn off the street. One odd tidbit was that there were many kids
with scales (like weigh yourself scales, not fishy kiddos) that they were selling
a chance to know how much you weigh. The
best part of the evening though was that we did everything in these matching
alpaca hats that one of our patients gave to us earlier that day :-)
We took the long 5-hour ride back this morning and went
straight to the clinic to get working.
Chris & Becca’s first patient as soon as we got back was perhaps our
saddest and most heart-gripping we’ve had yet.
It was a small girl with down’s syndrome who had an untreated hole in
her heart. Her mother had brought her
from a town 6 hours away to be seen. Her
breathing was very rapid and troubled and her size was very delayed. The energy it takes for her to function is not
allowing her enough calories to grow with. She desperately needs this heart surgery but
her mother cannot afford it. We are
trying to connect her with another non-profit organization that may be able to
help her. Chris & Becca prayed with
the mother after we were finished and neither had dry eyes by the end. We humbly ask you to be praying for this
loving woman and her beautiful child that they would be blessed by being able
to get this surgery and that the child would grow healthy & strong so she
can have it. The day continued to include some heart touching cases with a
young boy with spina bifida to mention just one. Watching this boy walk was
pain staking, his knees were so inflamed and swollen and the pain he had to be
in was unimaginable. Becca and Jodee (our medical director) made casts for the
boy in order to send to the states so that customized orthotics could be fitted
for him and sent on back. Just seeing the attitudes and smiles of these people
everyday makes us feel like we are fulfilling our purpose in life being future
PT’s and makes this whole experience worth it all. We have so much compared to
these people in Peru, and we have so much to give to them. Please keep these
patients and the people of Peru in your thoughts and prayers, and pray that
they will see the Glory of God work in their lives, even if it is the smallest
ways. Bless you and thanks for staying with us!
Happy trails!
Becca and Chris
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